Data Collection System

ABSTRACT

Provided are various methods of data collection and providing feedback to business owners and other types of venues using a software application. The software application includes various levels including a venue software application level, a consumer software application level and a cloud-based server software application level. The consumer software application is downloaded onto a smart device and notifications are sent to the smart device when a consumer enters a venue&#39;s defined geo-fences. The notification informs the consumer of survey-voucher pairs, where vouchers may be redeemed in exchange for the consumer completing surveys. The information obtained from the surveys provides feedback to venues and business owners.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to data collection systems. Moreparticularly, the present disclosure is directed to software thatcombines notifications, vouchers, Geo-fences, surveys, data collection,and gamification in direct marketing efforts.

BACKGROUND

There are many managers and corporate entities who struggle to attractcustomers, particularly during slow trafficked periods of the day.

It is of vital importance that these managers and corporate entities areable to collect and analyze accurate customer data, so that they cantailor their offerings to Consumer tastes and preferences.

If a manager or corporate entity fails to listen carefully to changes inConsumer taste, the company may jeopardize its sales and eventually bedriven out of business.

Therefore, efforts to collect data have become increasingly importantwithin the marketplace. Current forms of obtaining data includepurchasing Consumer panel data from collection companies, obtaining freedata from public entities, and collecting data independently.

Arguably, the most valuable data in the marketplace is location specificdata because it presents the most opportunity for companies to customizesolutions to localized markets. One method of collecting this data isthrough soliciting customer feedback on the back of receipts(hereinafter receipt surveys). However, the amount of usable dataobtained through receipt surveys is very limited.

There exist many owners and/or operators of businesses or organizations,and many third parties who desire to collect data about the potentialcustomers that pass in proximity to their physical establishment. Theseentities are referred hereinafter as “Business Owners”.

There also exist many people who may or may not own businesses but areinterested in exchanging their responses to surveys for vouchers forproducts and services. These people are referred hereinafter as“Consumers.”

The disclosure provided herein provides a means to obtain credibleconsumer feedback in real time and to promote sales of existing and newproducts. It also provides a means to increase the visibility of thebusiness itself as well as the business's product line.

SUMMARY

Disclosed herein are data collection systems and methods that combinenotifications, vouchers, geo-fences, surveys, data collection, andgamification in direct marketing efforts. The systems provide for thecollection of consumer data whereby surveys are distributed to consumersand analyzed via a process including a mobile application triggered bygeo-fencing technology, and whereby the consumer receives a voucher inexchange for the information given during the survey.

Providing the survey-voucher pair enables the business owner to obtainvaluable feedback regarding products, atmosphere and enables thebusiness owner to identify areas of success and areas that needimprovement. At the same time, the availability of the survey-voucherpair promotes and advertises the business to consumers while providingthe consumer with incentives to visit the business. Thus, a relationshipbetween the consumer and business can be established and allowed toflourish according to business adjustments made in response to surveydata.

According to one method of the present disclosure, a voucher is createdby a software application which is redeemable by a consumer in exchangefor a product, service, or coupon. A survey of questions to be answeredby the consumer is then created by the software application. Therelationship between the voucher and survey may be defined by either thesoftware application or the business owner. According to certain aspectsof the present disclosure, the survey must be completed before aconsumer may redeem the voucher.

The software application may include several features which allow forimplementation of the process disclosed herein. In certain aspects ofthe present disclosure, the software application allows the businessowner to define a geofence about a geographical location. Thisgeographical location may sometimes be referred to as the parentlocation. In certain aspects of the present disclosure, the geo-fence istied to a physical business location.

In further aspects of the present disclosure, the software applicationmay be installed onto a mobile device. Use of the software may beginwhen a consumer with a mobile device loaded with associated softwareenters a location defined by a geofence. Upon entering within the areadefined by the geofence, a notification is generated by the software onthe mobile device. This notification may, in certain cases, provideinformation to the consumer about the voucher and survey. The survey maythen be prompted and completed by the consumer. Upon completion of thesurvey, the voucher is presented to the consumer where the consumer maythen redeem the voucher at their convenience.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided whichincludes the steps of creating a voucher, creating a survey of questionsto be answered by the consumer, defining the relationship between thevoucher and survey and presenting the voucher to the consumer before thesurvey is presented to a consumer. According to certain aspects of thismethod, the business owner may define a reputation threshold value. Thisreputation threshold value allows the business owner who may only desireconsumers with a high probably of completing surveys to be able toredeem an associated voucher.

According to this method, a consumer with a mobile device loaded withassociated software enters the defined geofence. A reputation value of aconsumer using the software on the mobile device is calculated. Here,the reputation value is related to the probability that the consumerwill complete a survey after redeeming the voucher. In certain aspectsof this method, a notification is generated on the mobile device uponentering said geofence if the consumer's reputation value is above thepre-determined threshold reputation value. The notification providesinformation to the consumer about the voucher and the survey. Uponredemption of the voucher, the survey is sent to the consumer's mobiledevice for completion. The consumer's reputation value is thenrecalculated based upon whether or not the consumer completed thesurvey.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a process of creating a Survey-Voucher set from theperspective of a business owner in accordance with the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is an expounded diagram of a sub-process;

FIG. 3 illustrates a process in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a query process in accordance with the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a sub-process in accordance with the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a data collection method in accordance with thepresent disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The structures shown schematically in the drawings have parts that areexamples of the elements recited in the claims. The illustratedstructures thus include examples of how a person of ordinary skill inthe art might make and use the claimed subject matter. These structuresare provided herein to meet the enablement and best mode requirements ofthe patent statute and are not intended to impose any limitations thatare not already recited within the claims.

The present application contemplates systems and methods for varioustypes of venues such as businesses to obtain and collect valuable datarelating to the business and the business's products in exchange forvouchers. The systems and methods disclosed herein may also be used forany type of venue which offers services or products to consumers.

With reference to FIG. 1, in accordance with one aspect of thedisclosure, the consumer data collection method from the business owneror venue operator's perspective includes the following steps. First, abusiness owner or venue creates a voucher for a product or service atstep 102. Next, at step 104, the business owner or venue operatorcreates a survey containing questions to be answered by a consumer. Forexample, the business owner or venue may want to gauge the reception ofa new product and, as such, direct the survey to provide customerfeedback relating to the new product or service. In accordance with oneaspect of the disclosure, the business owner or venue operator createsthe questions and answers to multiple choice to be chosen by theconsumer. In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, thebusiness owner or venue operator is able to pick from or modifypre-existing question and answer sets or can create custom question andanswer sets. Although the process described above has the voucher beingcreated before the survey, it is understood that in certain cases, thesurvey may be created before voucher.

Next, at step 106, the business owner or venue operator defines a firstrelationship between the voucher and the survey. This first relationshipencompasses the order of presenting the voucher and the survey to thecustomer. For example, in accordance with one aspect of the presentdisclosure, a consumer may redeem the voucher before completing thesurvey. In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, aconsumer receives the voucher after completing the survey.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, at step106, the software application prompts the business owner or venueoperator to decide whether he/she would like a product review or ageneral business or establishment review. At this point the softwarecan, based upon the information requested by the business owner or venueoperator, recommend to first offer a consumer a voucher and follow witha subsequent survey, or recommend a survey followed with a voucherreward for completing the survey.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, next, at step 108 the business ownerdefines the geo-fence area. Although steps 102, 104 and 108 arepresented above as occurring in a certain order, it is understood thatthe particular order of steps 102, 104, and 108 are not definite,meaning that rather than creating a voucher first at step 102, abusiness owner could first define a geo-fence area, step 108. Regardlessof the order of occurrence of steps 102-108, the completion of steps102-108 trigger and set up the surveys to be completed by the consumer.

The business owner or venue operator may perform these processes on anytype of computing device such as a mobile device including a mobilephone or a tablet, a laptop or a desktop.

Once a consumer with a compatible device (e.g., a mobile device such asa mobile phone or a tablet) containing the above-described softwareenters the business owner defined geo-fence area at step 110, anotification is sent by a server to the software on the consumer'sdevice at step 112. In accordance with one aspect of the presentdisclosure, the notification is a push notification. In accordance withanother aspect of the disclosure, the notifications are displayed in thesystem bar of the device. A sound, vibration, screen flicker, or led mayalso provide notification to the consumer that he/she has entered ageo-fence area with a corresponding survey-voucher pair. Thenotification contains information about the voucher created by thebusiness owner.

Upon reviewing the notification, the consumer is prompted withinstructions regarding the redemption of the voucher. In certain aspectsof the present disclosure, the consumer completes the survey at step114. The survey information is transmitted wirelessly and stored on aremote database server at step 116. Any type of server suitable forstoring, updating, processing and accessing information may be used forthis purpose. According to certain aspects of the present disclosure,the server is a cloud-based server.

Upon completion of the survey, the consumer electronically receives thevoucher which may redeemed at the consumer's liberty subject to anylimitations provided by the business owner or venue operator. In certaincases, the voucher may include limitations including, but not limitedto, times of usage, location of usage, and expiry date and time. Theselimitations may be set by the software and based on a secondrelationship assigned by either the venue operator or the software tothe results of the survey. For example, the software may assess thesurvey results to determine whether or not the survey was completed ingood faith based on the quality of the consumer's answers and assign acorresponding value to the voucher. A consumer who thoroughly completesa survey in good faith may receive a voucher which has a higher value inthat it may have a longer time of use, a broader location of usage, ahigher equivalent monetary value or associated product value and anexpiration date set farther in the future than a consumer who does notprovide believable answers and completes only a portion of the survey.In computing the survey results and the corresponding value of thevoucher, the software may assess and take into account the consumer'sanswers to previous surveys, the consumer's education background, thetime spent taking the survey and any other factor deemed relevant toassessing the credibility of the survey results.

At step 120, the business owner or venue operator may view theconsumer's survey results and statistical data compiled from multipleuser completed surveys in real-time on a dashboard within the software.

In accordance with one aspect of the disclosure, the business owner cancreate multiple differing vouchers at step 102. In certain cases, thesoftware may allow the consumer may choose one of the multiple vouchersto be redeemed upon completion of the survey. In other cases, thesoftware may select and automatically present the consumer with avoucher before completion of the survey. The software may choose one ofmultiple vouchers to be provided to the consumer based upon the answersthe consumer provided in the survey. In another aspect of the presentdisclosure, if the survey results indicate a consumer preference towarda certain product or service, the software can decide to issue a voucherrelated to the consumer's preference. The advantage here is that aconsumer is more likely to come back and visit the business in order toredeem a voucher for a product or service that he/she has shown apreference towards. In a further aspect of the present disclosure, thesoftware may follow parameters created by the business owner in issuingthe voucher. For example, the business owner may set the types ofvouchers that the software may choose from in issuing a voucher based onsurvey results. In another example, the software may use the surveyresults to determine the type of voucher to issue from a list ofnumerous products and the value of the voucher. The software may alsorandomly generate the voucher of a certain value. According to certainaspects of the present teaching, the voucher may be assigned a valuehaving a certain number of super-perks equivalent to a monetary value,thereby allowing the consumer to purchase a product having an equivalentmonetary value. The business owner or venue operator may also provide aset of general parameters (e.g., no discount greater than 20%) for thesoftware to follow regarding an entire product list and discount to beapplied by the voucher. The software then uses the survey results todecide on the product to be applied to the voucher and the extent of thediscount applied to the voucher. The software is therefore capable ofusing the survey results to determine the value of the voucher. In othercases, the software selects one of the multiple vouchers to be providedto the consumer based upon the consumer's calculated reputation value.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, thebusiness owner, at step 102, may decide to limit the number and type ofvouchers available. This has the effect of increasing the rarity of thevoucher which may make it more enticing to a consumer to redeem thevoucher. In the situation where a business owner has a limited quantityof products available, the number of vouchers may be limited to thequantity of product available for distribution. As each voucher issupplied to a consumer, the number of available vouchers is decreased bythe software. In some embodiments, when a consumer enters a geo-fence,the notification includes the number of vouchers remaining to beclaimed.

In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, in the situationwhere there are multiple differing vouchers available, the voucherpresented to the consumer is dependent on the completion a certainpercentage of the survey.

With reference to FIG. 2, after the business owner creates the survey atstep 104, the business owner is prompted to define the relationshipbetween the voucher and the survey. At this point, the business ownerhas the option of selecting 106A where the voucher is redeemed beforethe survey is to be completed, or alternatively, 106B where the vouchermay be redeemed after the survey is completed. When the business ownerhas a new product or variation he/she may wish to promote, the businessowner may choose option 106A. This allows the business owner to firstsupply the consumer with the product and gains feedback regardingcertain aspects of the product. For example, a restaurant owner with anew recipe may want to first provide a voucher for a sample of a newfood item or recipe. After eating the new food item obtained through thevoucher, the consumer would then provide valuable feedback about the newfood item or recipe to the business owner. Based upon the feedbackprovided by the consumer, the business owner could then decide whetheror not to continue making or to modify the new product.

In cases where the business owner selects option 106A, the availabilityof the Survey-Voucher pair is contingent on the consumer's reputation,step 202. In this aspect of the present disclosure, a consumer'sreputation is a value calculated by the software for each uniqueconsumer that represents the consumer's overall probability ofcompleting the survey within a given time. This calculation may be basedon the consumer's past behavior and any other metrics known to those ofskill in the art for providing a predictive indicator of the consumer'sbehavior. Other factors that contribute to the value of a consumer'sreputation include but are not limited to feedback scores from businessowner's on whether the survey information from a particular consumer wasuseful, the number of surveys completed by the consumer, thegeographical area covered by the consumer and monitored by the softwareand the number of social media posts, social media friends, and socialmedia accounts.

With continued reference to FIG. 2, after selecting option 106A, thebusiness owner or software, at step 204, may set a pre-determined amountof time for a consumer to complete the survey before or after redeemingthe voucher. For example, software may require the consumer to completethe survey within an hour or require the consumer to complete the surveywithin a certain amount of time (for example, 10 minutes). This allowsthe business owner to obtain feedback from the consumer while theproduct is fresh in the consumer's mind. It also provides motivation forthe consumer to complete the survey as early as possible since thelikelihood of completing a survey diminishes with the passage of timefrom the time of purchase. In certain aspects of the present disclosure,the software calculates the amount of time a consumer may have tocomplete the survey based upon the consumer's reputation value.

An overall depiction of an exemplary process is illustrated in FIG. 3.For the consumer, the process begins at step 302, where the consumerdownloads the associated mobile application on their computing device.The software application may operate with any computing device. Incertain aspects of the present disclosure the software applicationoperates on a smart device such as a smart phone.

In other aspects of the present disclosure, the software may bedownloaded or integrated into a media system of a vehicle which mayconstitute a mobile device. When integrated into the vehicles mediasystem, the application is triggered when the vehicle enters thegeo-fence at a slow rate of speed, such as entering a fast-fooddrive-thru.

With continued reference to FIG. 3, the software, at step 304,continuously attempts to determine whether or not it is currently insidean area defined by a geo-fence set which contains the Survey-Vouchersystem.

Step 304 is shown in greater detail in FIG. 4. Here, at step 402, thesoftware on the device queries the software operated on the server atintervals. The server, at step 404, determines the amount of geo-fencesnear the device. If the server identifies that there are many geo-fencesnear the device, option 404A, the server recommends a high interval,406A, on the order of once every 10 seconds. If the server, at step 404,determines that there are a few geo-fences near the device, option 404B,the server recommends a low interval, 406B, on the order of once every10 minutes. Next, at step 408, the server forwards the information tothe device, and the software on the device adjusts the interval at step410. The process then cycles back to step 402.

Referring back to FIG. 3, after step 304, the consumer's reputation, asdefined above, is calculated at step 306.

Operation of the data collection system may be described as follows.Before a device enters a geo-fence, a business owner creates a voucherfor a product or service at step 308. Next, at step 310 the businessowner creates a survey containing questions to be answered by aconsumer. For example, the business owner may want to gauge thereception of a new product and as such direct the survey to providecustomer feedback relating to the new product or service. Next, at step312 the business owner generates a relationship between the voucher andthe survey to determine whether the voucher or the survey will bepresented to the consumer first. In some cases, a consumer may redeemthe voucher before completing the survey. In other cases, a consumerreceives the voucher after completing the survey.

With continued reference to FIG. 3, next, at step 314, the businessowner defines the geo-fence area. It is understood that the particularorder of steps 308, 310, 312 and 314 are not definite, meaning thatrather than creating a voucher first at step 308, a business owner couldfirst define a geo-fence area, step 314 and then set up a voucher as instep 308. Completion of steps 308-314 set up and trigger the surveys tobe completed by the consumer.

Once a consumer with the compatible device and software enters thebusiness owner defined geo-fence area at step 316, a notification issent by a server to the software on the consumer's device at step 318.The notification contains information about the voucher created by thebusiness owner. Upon reviewing the notification, at step 320, theconsumer is prompted with instructions regarding the redemption of thevoucher. The instructions provided to the consumer at step 320 aredetailed in FIG. 5. During this step, either the voucher is redeemedbefore the survey is completed at 320A, or the survey is completedbefore the voucher may be redeemed, 320B. When the voucher is requiredto be redeemed before completion of the survey, 320A, the consumerreceives access to the voucher at step 502A. Next, at 504A, the consumeris informed of the duration of time set for completion of the survey.The consumer may then choose to redeem the voucher at the parentlocation or business within the terms set by the business owner, 506A.If the consumer fails to complete the survey within the allotted time,the consumer's reputation value decreases at step 508, indicating thatthey are less likely to complete more surveys in the future. If theconsumer completes the survey within the allotted time at step 510, theconsumer's reputation value increases at step 512, indicating that theyare more likely to complete surveys in the future.

When completion of the survey is required in order to gain access to thevoucher (option 320B), the consumer first completes a survey at step502B. Upon completion of the survey, the consumer is granted access tothe voucher at step 504B. At this point at step 506B, the consumer maythen choose to redeem the voucher at the business or parent location attheir convenience and within the terms set by the business owner.Redemption of the voucher may result in the consumer's reputationincreasing at step 512.

Returning to FIG. 3, after the consumer completes the survey voucherpair at step 322, the data from the survey is transmitted wirelessly andstored in a remote database at step 324. Steps 316-324 are repeated forany consumer entering into the geo-fence. The server operated softwareaggregates non-complex and often-used survey data, including but notlimited to metadata, and makes it available for real time viewing atstep 326. In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure,the non-complex and often-used data includes the number of totalrespondents and the distribution of responses across multiple choicequestions. In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure,the distribution of responses are illustrated in graphical charts.

The data is compiled using a MapReduce technique. The technique involvesfiltering and sorting data and executing summary operations of the data.This allows for real time viewing of desirable statistical information.When an information update is requested, instead of counting all theresponses at the time of the request, the value is stored continuouslyand updated as more data arrives.

According to certain aspects of the present disclosure, data fromnumerous consumer surveys across a plurality of different businesses andindustries is collected by a software company. After analyzing andprocessing the data, the software company distributes results of thedata including any conclusions and recommendations to the appropriatebusiness associated with a particular survey. This process isillustrated within FIG. 6. According to FIG. 6, Business 1 of industry Acreates a survey-voucher pair. Customers within the geo-fence ofBusiness 1, illustrated by customer 1 and customer 2, create data bycompleting the survey on their corresponding smart device. Similarly,Business 2 of industry A creates a survey-voucher pair. Customers withinthe geo-fence of business 2, illustrated by customer 3 and customer 4,create data by completing the survey on their corresponding smartdevice. Business 1 receives survey data from customers 1 and 2, whilebusiness 2 receives survey data from customers 3 and 4. Meanwhile, theapplication software company receives data from every customer of everyparticipating business. After collecting the data, the software companyorganizes and processes the data. It then sells the data including thesurvey results, analysis and recommendations to businesses within therelevant industries. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the Software Companycompiles all of the data from Businesses 1 and 2 and sells to businessesin industry A which include business 1, 2 and 3. For example, datacollected by fast food businesses could be sold to other fast foodcompanies.

The remainder of the data is stored at step 328. This data includes therelationship between the survey, the consumer who completed the survey,and their responses to the survey. This data is retained for morecomplex queries and analysis on demand.

When a business owner or venue operator desires to view the surveyresults, the current state of the metadata is displayed in a real-timedashboard on the device. In accordance with another aspect of thepresent disclosure, the real-time dashboard includes a set of charts andgraphs that display a visual representation of the current state of thedata they represent. The dashboard queries the server for changes inmetadata at regular intervals, and updates the data display as it comesin.

Should the business owner or venue operator want to run a query that isnot included in the ongoing aggregate analysis, that query can be runagainst historical data. These queries are used to retrieve informationabout the relationship between properties of survey respondents andtheir answers to the surveys. For example, such a query includes “Howmany consumers exist who responded positively to ‘Question 4’ are abovethe age of 30?”

In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, the processfurther includes a step where a follow up survey is sent to a consumerthat previously entered the geo-fence and completed the business owneroriginal survey. In accordance with another aspect of the presentdisclosure, the follow up survey is sent after the consumer has redeemedthe voucher.

The software application as described herein includes various levels ofthe same application which work in conjunction with the overall datacollection and voucher system. Those levels include a venue softwareapplication, a consumer software application and a cloud-based serversoftware application.

Also provided is a consumer data collection and voucher system. Theconsumer data collection and voucher system includes a first computingdevice comprising a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable mediumand a processor; a second computing device comprising a tangible,non-transitory computer-readable medium and a processor; a consumersoftware application installed on the first computing device, whereinthe software application includes a set of instructions or code whichare stored on the tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium andwherein the set of instructions or code are executed by the processor; avenue software application installed on the second computing device,wherein the venue software application includes a set of instructions orcode which are stored on the tangible, non-transitory computer-readablemedium, wherein the set of instructions or code are executed by theprocessor; a cloud-based server which receives and executescommunications from the venue software application and the consumersoftware application on a cloud-based server application and whichtransmits a set of instructions and data received from the venuesoftware application to the consumer software application and a set ofinstructions and data received from the consumer software application tovenue software application; a geo-fence formed around a venue'sestablishment, wherein the geo-fence is defined by communicationsbetween the venue software application and a global positioning system(GPS) or a radio-frequency identification enabled software applicationand wherein the geo-fence is communicated to the consumer softwareapplication through the cloud-based server; wherein the venue softwareapplication or cloud-based server software application creates a surveyand a voucher to communicate to the consumer software application,wherein the venue software application or cloud-based server softwareapplication defines a first relationship between the voucher and thesurvey which allows the voucher to be redeemed before completing thesurvey or after completing the survey; and wherein an alert isautomatically triggered on the consumer software application upon aconsumer entering a geo-fenced area of a venue, wherein the alertpresents the consumer with an option for receiving a voucher andcompleting a survey, wherein the consumer receives a voucher which maybe redeemed before completing the survey or a voucher which may beredeemed after completing the survey.

According to certain aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem of claim 1, the venue software application includes controlswhich allow an authorized operator of the venue software application toselect specific establishments for where to offer vouchers, specifictimes or days for when to offer vouchers and specific products to offervouchers for.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, the venue software application allows an authorized operator toselect items from a pre-existing question and answer set for the survey,to select and modify items from a pre-existing question and answer setfor the survey or to create a question and answer set for the survey.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, the venue software application allows the operator to adjust thesize of the geo-fence to be within a certain radius of the venue'sestablishment allowing alerts to be sent the consumer softwareapplication at an earlier or later point in time depending on the sizeof the geo-fence radius.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, the venue software application prompts the operator to decidewhether the survey is to be directed to a specific product review or ageneral business or establishment review.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, the alert is one of a push notification, a notificationdisplayed on a system bar, a sound, a vibration, and a screen flickerwhich notifies the consumer that he or she has entered a geo-fenced areaof a venue which provides an option for completing a survey andreceiving a voucher.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, upon completion of the survey, survey data is wirelesslytransmitted from the consumer software application to the cloud-basedserver software application and wherein the cloud-based server softwareapplication stores the survey data, processes it and transmits it to thevenue software application.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, the venue software application, cloud-based server softwareapplication and/or the consumer software application defines a secondrelationship with respect to the value of the voucher that is to beissued, wherein the value of the voucher is set by defining any one ofthe following parameters: a period of time or expiration date forredeeming the voucher, a number of specific venue locations forredeeming the voucher, assigning certain amount of equivalent monetaryvalue to the voucher for redeeming products, and by associating aspecific product with a voucher to be redeemed.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, the venue software application, cloud-based server softwareapplication and/or the consumer software application takes into accountthe consumer's answers provided in the survey including how much of thesurvey is completed in calculating the value of the voucher that is tobe issued and wherein the type and the value of the voucher provided tothe consumer may be additionally dependent on a reputational valuecalculated and assigned to the consumer wherein the reputational valueis dependent upon any one of the following: the consumer's answersprovided in previous surveys, the time spent completing the survey,feedback scores from business owner's on whether survey information fromthe consumer was useful, the number of surveys completed by theconsumer, the geographical area covered by the consumer over a period oftime, the number of social media posts the consumer makes to promote thevenue and a consumers social media score, wherein a consumer's socialmedia score is based on how many social media accounts the consumer usesand how many social media friends or followers the consumer has.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, the venue operator may view consumer survey results in real-timeon a dashboard on the venue software application.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, the cloud-based server software application and/or the consumersoftware application may allow the consumer to choose one of multiplevouchers to be redeemed.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, the consumer software application or the venue softwareapplication chooses one of multiple vouchers to be provided to theconsumer based on answers provided by the consumer in the survey.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, if the survey results indicate a consumer preference toward acertain product or service, the consumer software application or thevenue software application can issue a voucher related to the consumerpreference.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, one of the following processes occurs: i) a venue sets the typesof vouchers the consumer software application, cloud-based serversoftware application and/or the venue software application may choosefrom in issuing a voucher based on survey results; ii) the venuesoftware application, cloud-based server software application and/or theconsumer software application uses the survey results to automaticallydetermine the type of voucher to issue from a list of numerous productsand the value of the voucher based on parameters set by the operator ofthe venue software application; iii) the venue software application,cloud-based server software application and/or the consumer softwareapplication randomly generates a voucher for a specific product having acertain value from a list of products offered by the venue based onparameters set by the operator of the venue software application; iii)the venue software application, cloud-based server software applicationand/or the consumer software application selects a specific type ofvoucher of a certain value from a list of vouchers based upon aconsumer's responses to the survey and/or the consumer's calculatedreputational value, wherein a consumer's calculated reputational valueis based on responses to past survey questions.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, the venue can make a selection on the venue software applicationto limit the number and type of vouchers available to the consumer onthe consumer software application.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, the venue may set a pre-determined amount of time for a consumerto complete the survey before or after redeeming the voucher and whereinif the survey is not completed within the set time period, the consumeris assessed a negative reputational score.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, the first computing device is a consumer mobile device.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, the consumer software application queries the cloud-based serversoftware application at periodic intervals having a high frequency or alow frequency, wherein if the cloud-based server software applicationidentifies first amount of geo-fences within a first distance from theconsumer's mobile device, the consumer software application queries theserver at a first high frequency interval and wherein if the cloud-basedserver software application identifies a second amount of geo-fencesless than the first amount of geo-fences or that the consumer mobiledevice is at a second distance greater than the first distance from ageo-fence, the consumer software application queries the server at asecond low frequency interval less than the first high frequencyinterval.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, the cloud-based server software application and/or the venuesoftware application aggregates and optionally analytically processessurvey data and renders it available for viewing by the venue on thevenue software application in real-time.

According to further aspects of the consumer data collection and vouchersystem, data is compiled using a MapReduce technique which allows forpreviously stored data values to be continuously updated as more dataarrives.

The process and functions described herein may be implemented inhardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof within a mobiledevice. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on ortransmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. The steps of the method disclosed herein maybe embodied in a processor-executable software application or module,which may reside on a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of a mobile device. Tangible, non-transitory computer-readablestorage media may be any available media that may be accessed by acomputer or mobile device. By way of example, and not limitation, suchnon-transitory computer-readable media may comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM,CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or othermagnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to storedesired program code in the form of instructions or data structures andthat may be accessed by a computer as well as combinations of the above.Additionally, the operations of the method disclosed herein may resideas one or any combination or set of codes and/or instructions on atangible, non-transitory machine readable medium and/orcomputer-readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computerprogram product.

Numerous embodiments have been described herein. It will be apparent tothose skilled in the art that the above systems, software and methodsmay incorporate changes and modifications without departing from thegeneral scope of this invention. It is intended to include all suchmodifications and alterations in so far as they come within the scope ofthe systems, software and methods set forth in the appended claims orthe equivalents thereof. The phrase “associated with” as used in thisdocument, refers to structures which support the disclosed systems,software and methods and may also refer to structures not disclosedherein capable of supporting the disclosed systems, software andmethods. Further, the “invention” as that term is used in this documentis what is claimed in the claims of this document. The right to claimelements and/or sub-combinations that are disclosed herein as otherinventions in other patent documents is hereby unconditionally reserved.

Having thus described the invention, it is now claimed:

I claim:
 1. A consumer data collection and voucher system comprising: a first computing device comprising a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium and a processor; a second computing device comprising a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium and a processor; a consumer software application installed on the first computing device, wherein the software application includes a set of instructions or code which are stored on the tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium and wherein the set of instructions or code are executed by the processor; a venue software application installed on the second computing device, wherein the venue software application includes a set of instructions or code which are stored on the tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the set of instructions or code are executed by the processor; a cloud-based server which receives and executes communications from the venue software application and the consumer software application on a cloud-based server software application and which transmits a set of instructions and data received from the venue software application to the consumer software application and a set of instructions and data received from the consumer software application to venue software application; a geo-fence formed around a venue's establishment, wherein the geo-fence is defined by communications between the venue software application and a global positioning system (GPS) or a radio-frequency identification enabled software application and wherein the geo-fence is communicated to the consumer software application through the cloud-based server; wherein the venue software application or cloud-based server software application creates a survey and a voucher to communicate to the consumer software application, wherein the venue software application or cloud-based server software application defines a first relationship between the voucher and the survey which allows the voucher to be redeemed before completing the survey or after completing the survey; and wherein an alert is automatically triggered on the consumer software application upon a consumer entering a geo-fenced area of a venue, wherein the alert presents the consumer with an option for receiving a voucher and completing a survey, wherein the consumer receives a voucher which may be redeemed before completing the survey or a voucher which may be redeemed after completing the survey.
 2. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 1, wherein the venue software application includes controls which allow an authorized operator of the venue software application to select specific establishments for where to offer vouchers, specific times or days for when to offer vouchers and specific products to offer vouchers for.
 3. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 2, wherein the venue software application allows an authorized operator to select items from a pre-existing question and answer set for the survey, to select and modify items from a pre-existing question and answer set for the survey or to create a question and answer set for the survey.
 4. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 3, wherein the venue software application allows the operator to adjust the size of the geo-fence to be within a certain radius of the venue's establishment allowing alerts to be sent the consumer software application at an earlier or later point in time depending on the size of the geo-fence radius.
 5. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 4, wherein the venue software application prompts the operator to decide whether the survey is to be directed to a specific product review or a general business or establishment review.
 6. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 5, wherein the alert is one of a push notification, a notification displayed on a system bar, a sound, a vibration, and a screen flicker which notifies the consumer that he or she has entered a geo-fenced area of a venue which provides an option for completing a survey and receiving a voucher.
 7. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 6, wherein upon completion of the survey, survey data is wirelessly transmitted from the consumer software application to the cloud-based server software application and wherein the cloud-based server software application stores the survey data, processes it and transmits it to the venue software application.
 8. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 7, wherein the venue software application, cloud-based server software application and/or the consumer software application defines a second relationship with respect to the value of the voucher that is to be issued, wherein the value of the voucher is set by defining any one of the following parameters: a period of time or expiration date for redeeming the voucher, a number of specific venue locations for redeeming the voucher, assigning certain amount of equivalent monetary value to the voucher for redeeming products, and by associating a specific product with a voucher to be redeemed.
 9. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 8, wherein the venue software application, cloud-based server software application and/or the consumer software application takes into account the consumer's answers provided in the survey including how much of the survey is completed in calculating the value of the voucher that is to be issued and wherein the type and the value of the voucher provided to the consumer may be additionally dependent on a reputational value calculated and assigned to the consumer wherein the reputational value is dependent upon any one of the following: the consumer's answers provided in previous surveys, the time spent completing the survey, feedback scores from business owner's on whether survey information from the consumer was useful, the number of surveys completed by the consumer, the geographical area covered by the consumer over a period of time, the number of social media posts the consumer makes to promote the venue and a consumers social media score, wherein a consumer's social media score is based on how many social media accounts the consumer uses and how many social media friends or followers the consumer has.
 10. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 9, wherein the venue operator may view consumer survey results in real-time on a dashboard on the venue software application.
 11. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 10, wherein the consumer software application may allow the consumer to choose one of multiple vouchers to be redeemed.
 12. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 11, wherein the consumer software application, cloud-based server software application and/or the venue software application chooses one of multiple vouchers to be provided to the consumer based on answers provided by the consumer in the survey.
 13. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 12, wherein if the survey results indicate a consumer preference toward a certain product or service, the consumer software application or the venue software application can issue a voucher related to the consumer preference.
 14. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 13, i) wherein a venue sets the types of vouchers the consumer software application, cloud-based server software application and/or the venue software application may choose from in issuing a voucher based on survey results; ii) wherein the venue software application, cloud-based server software application and/or the consumer software application uses the survey results to automatically determine the type of voucher to issue from a list of numerous products and the value of the voucher based on parameters set by the operator of the venue software application; iii) wherein the venue software application, cloud-based server software application and/or the consumer software application randomly generates a voucher for a specific product having a certain value from a list of products offered by the venue based on parameters set by the operator of the venue software application; or iv) wherein the venue software application, cloud-based server software application and/or the consumer software application selects a specific type of voucher of a certain value from a list of vouchers based upon a consumer's responses to the survey and/or the consumer's calculated reputational value, wherein a consumer's calculated reputational value is based on responses to past survey questions.
 15. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 14, wherein the venue can make a selection on the venue software application to limit the number and type of vouchers available to the consumer on the consumer software application.
 16. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 15, wherein the venue may set a pre-determined amount of time for a consumer to complete the survey before or after redeeming the voucher and wherein if the survey is not completed within the set time period, the consumer is assessed a negative reputational score.
 17. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 16, wherein the first computing device is a consumer mobile device.
 18. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 17, wherein the consumer software application queries the cloud-based server software application at periodic intervals having a high frequency or a low frequency, wherein if the cloud-based server identifies first amount of geo-fences within a first distance from the consumer's mobile device, the consumer software application queries the server at a first high frequency interval and wherein if the cloud-based server software application identifies a second amount of geo-fences less than the first amount of geo-fences or that the consumer mobile device is at a second distance greater than the first distance from a geo-fence, the consumer software application queries the server at a second low frequency interval less than the first high frequency interval.
 19. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 18, wherein the cloud-based server software application or the venue software application aggregates and optionally analytically processes survey data and renders it available for viewing by the venue on the venue software application in real-time.
 20. The consumer data collection and voucher system of claim 19, wherein data is compiled using a MapReduce technique which allows for previously stored data values to be continuously updated as more data arrives. 